Sweet Maria's Weblog

Sweet Marias Moka Kadir Blend This is a short run - just a few hundred pounds in total - based around a small amount of Yemen we came across. It has a thick inky body and a long finish dominated by fruit nectar and bitter-sweet chocolate.

Java Buan Rongkup, a wet-process Java, producing a rare cleanliness from this part of the coffee-producing world. Restrained bittersweetness, tart to tannic fruit notes, a blend of black walnut and bittering cocoa.

Our Dry Processed cards were just printed and we are starting to include them in outgoing orders. If you follow the arrows around the card, you can track the path that dry processed coffee travels. We posted some really good details about this a little while back...click here to read more.

Slate Magazine is a great current affairs/news blog as long as you aren't prone to getting sucked into their time-killing vortex of entertaining features, articles, etc. Slate Picks recently featured the Clever Coffee Dripper as one of their top coffee brewing picks. The writer mentioned that she brews with #2 sized filters which is a great insight since the large Clever can be used with both #2 and #4 filters depending on how much cofffee you are brewing. Thanks Slate!

February 18th 2015 (pictured: wooden bicycles from Rwanda outside the Sweet Maria's offices in West Oakland)

It's been two weeks and we have another exciting pair for our roasted coffee subscription. This time I chose one coffee from Rwanda and one from Burundi. Both of these arrived recently here at the Sweet Maria's.

The sweetness stands out in this balanced coffee from the Karenge station in Eastern Rwanda. It reminds me of a less refined sugar like muscovado. There are mild notes of apple and dried fruits in the acidity. Subtle hints of all-spice and clove come forward in the aroma and add complexity to this brewed cup. There is a bit of dark chocolate in the finish.

There is a pleasing acidity upfront in this one from the Muyinga province of Burundi. It sparkles with a combination of juicy citrus and a brighter lemongrass flavor. The sweetness is syrupy, like honey or caramel. At this City roast level there is a candied nut flavor.

Zimbabwe Chipinge is a mild cup, but with reverberating sweetness, perhaps having more in common with Latin American coffee than African!

Java Sunda Kamojang at City+, it achieves sorghum syrup sweetness with a nice mix of dark chocolate and walnut.

Sumatra Dry Hulled Pantan Murara is a unique, fully washed Sumatra coffee. It is loaded with dark sugar flavors, and a smattering of fruited notes. It's heavy on the palate, and unlike wet-hulled coffees, earth tones are in the background than up-front pectin sweetness.